US5509074A — Method of protecting electronically published mat…

Claim 1

Independent Claim 241 words

A method of protecting electronically published documents, which comprises the step of: operating a computer system, including a copyright server and a document server connected thereto, and a network for electronic publication of documents stored in the document server, and including therein the steps of: a.) receiving requests for documents from a plurality of users having computers with display devices or printers, said computers being connected by said network to said computer system, said requests including unique user identification for each of said plurality of users; b.) authenticating said requests from said plurality of users with the copyright server; c.) using said copyright server to direct the document server to act upon proper authentication of each request; d.) in response to direction from said copyright server, using the document server to create encrypted documents from an encoded document along with a unique identification for each authenticated request and forwarding said documents to each authenticated request user through said network to corresponding agents located at each authenticated request user, each of said agents being selected from display agents and printer agents; e.) encoding a requested document as an encoded document using the document server so that each encoded document created is uniquely encoded based upon said unique identification; and, f.) decrypting said documents at each of said agents and making said documents available for use only in response to receiving correct secret keys provided by said authenticated request user to said agents.

Claim 2

Independent Claim 241 words

A method of protecting electronically published documents, which comprises the step of: operating a computer system, including a copyright server and a document server connected thereto, and a network for electronic publication of documents stored in the document server, and including therein the steps of: a.) receiving requests for documents from a plurality of users having computers with display devices or printers, said computers being connected by said network to said computer system, said requests including unique user identification for each of said plurality of users; b.) authenticating said requests from said plurality of users with the copyright server; c.) using said copyright server to direct the document server to act upon proper authentication of each request; d.) in response to direction from said copyright server, using the document server to create encrypted documents from an encoded document along with a unique identification for each authenticated request and forwarding said documents to each authenticated request user through said network to corresponding agents located at each authenticated request user, each of said agents being selected from display agents and printer agents; e.) encoding a requested document as an encoded document using the document server so that each encoded document created is uniquely encoded based upon said unique identification; and, f.) decrypting said documents at each of said agents and making said documents available for use only in response to receiving correct secret keys provided by said authenticated request user to said agents.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 33 words

The method of claim 1 wherein said document server also compresses said documents and said agents uncompress said documents in response to receiving a correct secret key provided by said authenticated request user.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 20 words

The method of claim 1 wherein said agents are pre-installed as software into each of said plurality of users' computers.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 25 words

The method of claim 1 wherein said agents are software programs which are transmitted to said plurality of users only after requests have been authenticated.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 26 words

The method of claim 1 wherein said agents are pre-installed as computerware selected from hardware and firmware into user hardware selected from display devices and printers.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 19 words

The method of claim 1 wherein each of said agents has a unique internal code corresponding to its user.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 23 words

The method of claim 1 wherein each of said agents is capable of decrypting only a single, uniquely encoded version of documents published.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 23 words

The method of claim 3 wherein each of said agents is capable of decrypting only a single, uniquely encoded version of documents published.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 23 words

The method of claim 5 wherein each of said agents is capable of decrypting only a single, uniquely encoded version of documents published.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 41 words

The method of claim 1 wherein said plurality of users have the same agents that uses an algorithm that derives a key from a system identifier to allow decryption and display in subsequent response to a unique, correct user secret key.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 32 words

The method of claim 1 wherein said plurality of users receive agents with each document forwarded, all such agents being the same for a given document and different from publication to publication.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 24 words

The method of claim 1 wherein said plurality of users receive agents with each document forwarded, all such agents being different from one another.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 15 words

The method of claim 1 wherein said documents are uniquely encoded by the document server.

Claim 15

Dependent Claim 19 words

The method of claim 1 wherein said documents are uniquely encoded after being forwarded to each authenticated request user.

Claim 16

Independent Claim 244 words

A method of protecting electronically published documents, which comprises the step of: operating a computer system, including a copyright server and a document server connected thereto, and a network for electronic publication of documents stored in the document server and including therein, the steps of: a.) receiving requests for documents from a plurality of users having computers with display devices or printers, said computers being connected by said network to said computer system, said requests including unique user identification for each of said plurality of users; b.) authenticating said requests from said plurality of users with the copyright server; c.) using said copyright server to direct the document server to act upon proper authentication of each request; d.) in response to direction from said copyright server, using the document server to create compressed and encrypted documents from encoded documents for each authenticated request, and forwarding said documents to each authenticated request user through said network to corresponding agents located at each authenticated request user, each of said agents being selected from display agents and printer agents; e.) encoding a requested document as an encoded document using the document server so that each encoded document created is uniquely encoded with encoding corresponding to each of said plurality of users; and, f.) decrypting and uncompressing said documents at each of said agents and making said documents available for use only in response to receiving correct secret keys provided by said authenticated request user to said agents.

Claim 17

Independent Claim 244 words

A method of protecting electronically published documents, which comprises the step of: operating a computer system, including a copyright server and a document server connected thereto, and a network for electronic publication of documents stored in the document server and including therein, the steps of: a.) receiving requests for documents from a plurality of users having computers with display devices or printers, said computers being connected by said network to said computer system, said requests including unique user identification for each of said plurality of users; b.) authenticating said requests from said plurality of users with the copyright server; c.) using said copyright server to direct the document server to act upon proper authentication of each request; d.) in response to direction from said copyright server, using the document server to create compressed and encrypted documents from encoded documents for each authenticated request, and forwarding said documents to each authenticated request user through said network to corresponding agents located at each authenticated request user, each of said agents being selected from display agents and printer agents; e.) encoding a requested document as an encoded document using the document server so that each encoded document created is uniquely encoded with encoding corresponding to each of said plurality of users; and, f.) decrypting and uncompressing said documents at each of said agents and making said documents available for use only in response to receiving correct secret keys provided by said authenticated request user to said agents.

Claim 18

Dependent Claim 20 words

The method of claim 15 wherein said agents are pre-installed as software into each of said plurality of users' computers.

Claim 19

Dependent Claim 25 words

The method of claim 15 wherein said agents are software programs which are transmitted to said plurality of users only after requests have been authenticated.

Claim 20

Dependent Claim 26 words

The method of claim 15 wherein said agents are pre-installed as computerware selected from hardware and firmware, into user hardware selected from display devices and printers.

Claim 21

Dependent Claim 19 words

The method of claim 15 wherein each of said agents has a unique internal code corresponding to its user.

Claim 22

Dependent Claim 23 words

The method of claim 15 wherein each of said agents is capable of decrypting only a single, uniquely encoded version of documents published.

Claim 23

Dependent Claim 40 words

The method of claim 15 wherein said agents are pre-installed as firmware into user hardware selected from display devices and printers, and wherein each of said agents is capable of decrypting only a single, uniquely encoded version of documents published.

Claim 24

Dependent Claim 15 words

The method of claim 15 wherein said documents are uniquely encoded by the document server.

Claim 25

Dependent Claim 19 words

The method of claim 15 wherein said documents are uniquely encoded after being forwarded to each authenticated request user.

Claim 26

Independent Claim 166 words

An apparatus comprising: a plurality of user computers associated with a respective users for transmitting a request for a document, with each request including unique user identification; a copyright server operatively connected to the plurality of user computers for storing a directory of identifying information of each respective user, for receiving and authenticating a request from an authenticated request user, and for generating a message upon authentication of the request; a document server for storing a plurality of documents in electronic form, for encoding a requested document to be uniquely encoded based upon a unique request identification, for encrypting a requested document along with a unique request identification for each authenticated request, and for forwarding the encrypted documents to each authenticated request user via a corresponding agent; and a plurality of agents, each agent associated with a user computer for decrypting the encrypted document and, responsive to a correct secret key from an authenticated request user, for providing the decrypted document to the authenticated request user.

Claim 27

Independent Claim 166 words

An apparatus comprising: a plurality of user computers associated with a respective users for transmitting a request for a document, with each request including unique user identification; a copyright server operatively connected to the plurality of user computers for storing a directory of identifying information of each respective user, for receiving and authenticating a request from an authenticated request user, and for generating a message upon authentication of the request; a document server for storing a plurality of documents in electronic form, for encoding a requested document to be uniquely encoded based upon a unique request identification, for encrypting a requested document along with a unique request identification for each authenticated request, and for forwarding the encrypted documents to each authenticated request user via a corresponding agent; and a plurality of agents, each agent associated with a user computer for decrypting the encrypted document and, responsive to a correct secret key from an authenticated request user, for providing the decrypted document to the authenticated request user.

Claim 28

Dependent Claim 25 words

The apparatus of claim 24 further comprising: a network for operatively connecting the plurality of user computers to the copyright server and the document server.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	1999-04-16	1999-10-16	2000-04-16	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	2003-04-16	2003-10-16	2004-04-16	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	2007-04-16	2007-10-16	2008-04-16	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Method of protecting electronically published materials using cryptographic protocols

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